Who answers first, the bot or the AI? And how do I pause the bot for one customer?
Updated October 13, 2026
The order for each message
- If the bot is off for this customer, no automatic reply is sent.
- If the customer is in the middle of a bot form or question, the message is taken as the answer.
- Keyword rules: a fixed reply, a handoff or a Flow stops the rest. Adding a label does not.
- Bot conversations and Bot builder: only the first matching rule replies.
- Nothing matched: the AI assistant answers, if it is on.
Pausing the AI assistant does not stop keyword rules or bot flows.
Pause the bot for one customer
- From Live chat: open the chat and click the bot button at the top. The bot stays off for this customer until you turn it back on.
- From Contacts → All contacts (
/panel/v2/sync/contacts): edit the contact and change Bot enabled. - For several customers: select them in the list and use the bulk action Disable bot (or Enable bot).
Pause the bot for everyone
In Settings → System settings → Bot (/panel/v2/settings/system/bot), option "Disable bot". This also stops the AI assistant.
What happens next?
Messages from a customer whose bot is off go to live chat only, and your team answers them by hand.